HOMILETICS. Ver. !.-Swearing by the Name of God. Our Lord's injunction to his disciples is "Swear not at all; 11 and in a community where all were true Christians, swearina- would be superfluous, and the injunction might be carried out to the letter. But i~ imperfect conditions of society, such as the old covenant contemplated, and such as alone exist under the new, "swearing by the Name of God" cannot be dispensed with. Life and property would be greatly endangered were courts of justice to decide causes on the unsworn evidence of witnesses, the majority of whom might have a very slight regard for truth. "Swearing by the Name of God" is thus lawful- !. WREN A v.ITNESS IS CALLED UPON TO DO SO IN A COURT OF JUSTICE. The Christian Church in all its branches bas always allowed and approved of oaths being taken in courts of justice. Only a few sectaries have from time to time so strained our Lord's words as to consider them prohibitive of oaths of this kind. Such persons "have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" (Rom. x. 2). It is clear from the context that our Lord's injunction was levelled, not against judicial oaths, but against the habit of strengthening asseverations by oaths in familiar discourse (Matt. v. 34- 3i). And he himself, when adjured, or put upon his oath, did not rebuke the man by whom he was adjured, but gave an answer to his questioner, though previously he had refused to give one (Matt. xxvi. 63, 64). !I. WREN THE CIVIL GOVERNOR CA.LLB UPON US FOB AN OATH OF ALLEGIANCE, OR TEE LIKE. The practice of Christian countries in this respect has varied; but where oaths of allegiance are ro...quired there would seem to be no reasonable ground for objecting to them. The state is entitled to assure itself of the good will and fidelity of the citizens; and, unless it can be sufficiently assured by a mere affirmation, would seem to be entitled to the better security of an oath. ill. WHEN IN ANY VERY SERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES A VERY SOLEMN ASSURANCE IS REQUISITE. Bandits have captured two friends. One of them is allowed to leave the bandits' stronghold in order to obtain the ransom for both, but is required to swear that in any case he will return, otherwise both will be put to a lingering death. 'l'here would seem to be no sufficient grounds for refusing to make oath in such a case. The bandits will not accept a promise. The oath is a concession to their incredulity. It is given solemnly, seriously, almost judicially; since those who tender it possess, under the circumstances, the power of life and death. It cannot be thought the injunction, "Swear not at all," was given with reference to such a case any more than with reference to oaths in courts of justice. The great end is to avoid light swearing, unnecessary swearing, profane swearing. Let these forms of swearing be carefully eschewed, and a Christian man's conscience need not be greatly ex~rcised in respect of the oaths which he is called upon to take as witness, as subject, as friend, as husband, as citizen.
Ver. 12.-God the First and the Last. It is readily intelligible, though not by finite miLds concei ,·able, that "Go<l is the First." Something must have existed from o.11 eternity, or nothing could ever have existed. The first existence must :iither have been matter or spirit, or both. But it could not have been matter alone, since matter could never have produced spirit; and it was not matter and spirit, since the "things tbnt are seen were not made of things that do appear" (Heb, xi. 3). It was therefore spirit alune; and that primeval Spirit which existed apart from matter, and apart from any created spirit, was God. Thus "God is the First "-the First Cause-before all cu. ~vru. 1-22.] 'rHi BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAII. 2Hl
things-the Origin of all things-" Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things, both visible and invisible." But how is he "the Last"'! Eternal life is promised to all created beings who do not fall from their first sinless estate, and also to all who, having fallen, repent and amend, turning to God, and putting their whole trust in the atonement of Christ. They will live on eternally in his eternal glory. Actually, then, God will not ever be in the future a single solitary Being, as he once was, but will always be a King and Governor of innumerable hosts of happy spirits, created by himself. Actually he will never be "the Last." Bat potentially he is" the Last." He could, if he so pleased, destroy with a. word a.11 that he has ever created, and be once more alone, without a second. And further, a.11 things are "to him" and "for him "-they exist for his sake; he is their Aim and Object; their sole, final -rb.os. Ver. 16.-The separate persooality and Divine authority of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity, like most of the other great and mysterious doctrines of true religion, was gradually revealed to mankind. In one sense we may call it an exclusively Christian doctrine; but in another we must assign it an antiquity far higher than that of the Christian era. God, in his several revelations to mankind, gradually paved the way for its acceptance. In the revelations which he made to Noah and Abraham (Gen. ix. 6, 16; xvii. 7, 8), God announced himself as Elohim-a word of plural form. In the revelation which he caused to be put forth by his servant Moses, he distinO'uished between "God" (Elohim) and "the Spirit of God" (ruakh Eluhim) which mived, or brooded, upon the face of the primeval chaos (Gen. i. 2). By D,H"id he made it known that there was a "God," whose "throne was for ever and tver," whom "God, even his God, would anoint with the oil or gladness above his f,-llows" (Ps. xiv. 6, 7; comp. Heb. i. 8, 9). To the same great saint he revealed it that bis Holy Spirit could be given to man and ta.ken from him (Ps. li. 11). Isaiah, in the present passage, proclaims that he is sent "by the Lord Jehovah" (Adooai Yehov"h) and also by "his Spirit." The doctrine of the Trinity in Unity is thus faintly shadowed out, and to a certain extent implied in the books of the Old Testa- ment, though first openly preached and 11mphatically set forth in those of the New (see a paper by Dr. Paul Kleinert, in the Jahrb?J,Ch fur deutsche Theologie for 1867, pp. 3-59).